The Urban Poor and Livelihood Vulnerability: Are Gender, Age and Marriage Intertwined

Dhaka is the capital city and the single fastest growing metropolis in Bangladesh – by 2020 its population will have increased thirty-fold to over ten million. This rapid population growth is largely facilitated by mass rural-to-urban migration. The speed of urbanization and the enormous numbers involved make it one of the major development challenges of the 21st century (World Bank & Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, 1998). Neither public nor private facilities can meet the basic human needs (food, water, shelter, sanitation, and a safe environment) of slum dwellers, most of whom also lack livelihood security. To understand the magnitude of urban poverty, this research explores the question of whether gender, age and marital status are indeed linked to livelihood vulnerability among the urban poor. It has utilized qualitative methods of data collection -FGDs, case studies (based on in depth-interviews) and participant observation from a selected slum in Dhaka- Begultila. Results of this study has indicated that both physical and emotional vulnerabilities have a crucial impact on the livelihood pattern of the slum dwellers of Begultila. To understand the state and nature of poverty in Begultila it is important to consider non-economic factors, which have a very strong role in enhancing vulnerability among the urban poor, particularly with children, women, and the elderly. This study sheds new light on urban poverty in relation to livelihood vulnerability; and consequently, highlights the diverse experiences of the urban poor and the livelihood insecurity that automatically categorizes them as one of the most vulnerable groups within the slum community. This form of livelihood vulnerability has a crucial effect on the nature and quality of life of the urban poor, particularly for women, which in turn, perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 217-237

Graduated Sovereignty vis-à-vis Aspirations: Education for the Adivasi and Cultural Politics in the Barind Region of Bangladesh

This article is concerned with the meaning of education for Santal and Munda communities, living in the Barind region. The aim of this paper is to document the narratives of Adivasis’ on education. What do they mean by education? What kind of situation did they experience in formal education? How they respond to the existing form of education. The article is written based on ethnographic material drawn from 8/9 months of frequent visit in the field of study. Data was collected by using semi-structured questionnaire, observation and participation. To Adivasis of Santal and Munda communities, education means to fight the mainstream society back, to act confidently, erase the stereotypical images they are labelled by the dominant group, and to get freedom from poverty; aspirations to overcome the conditions of graduated sovereignty and cultural politics. To consider the qualitative matter of social mobility, namely the aspiration in both the individual and community levels, the article proposes to look beyond the existing dominant analytical frame of educational access and exclusion. The analytical tools were developed following Appadurai’s concept of aspiration and Ong’s idea of graduated sovereignty. This article is a critical assessment of the marginal communities’ formal education and development and will contribute to ethnographic intervention in social anthropology and development studies, and contemporary debate on politics of education. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 1-26

Determinants of the Firm’s Capital Structure: Evidence from Dhaka Stock Exchange

The core objective of the study is to explore empirically the determinants of the capital structure measured in terms of leverage and the existence of linkages in the capital structure of the companies enlisted in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) using the recent ten years’ historical annual data from 2006 to 2015. The theoretical attributes of the capital structure have been examined using the tangibles assets, profitability, size of the company, and growth opportunity as explanatory variables. Findings from the Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) reveal that tangibility, size, and growth opportunity contributes positively to the capital structure whereas profitability impacts the capital structure negatively. These findings might have serious policy implications for achieving desired capital structure for the companies enlisted in the DSE. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 27-41

Development and Culture in the Context of Chittagong Hill Tracts (Cht), Bangladesh

This paper aims to understand the background of development and draws a link to culture in the context of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) - a post conflict region – to explore how the dispossession and commercialisation of culture in development planning is processing tension between different actors by reviewing secondary literature. The Indigenous people of Bangladesh have a longstanding history of struggle to achieve self-determination due to their institutional reference as ‘tribes’ or ‘ethnic minorities’. Denial of Indigenous peoples’ identity contributes to their discrimination and violation within the existing development concerns. The specific structural regulations and resource mobilization activities resulting from institutions – government, military, and powerful individuals - in areas inhabited by Indigenous people reflect the asymmetrical relations between Indigenous peoples and Bangalee actors. The conflict started in this region with the mobilization of ethnic majority Bangalee through the settlement programs in 1970s as a part of ‘development’ project, which later created tensions in this region due to the exploitation of people, land, and culture. As the government and ongoing military presence greatly shape ‘development’ for local people, the power relations between different actors facilitate the various forms of exploitative development projects. In addition, the ignorance towards integration of culture in development projects results in imposing threats to Indigenous peoples’ lives, livelihoods, and access to resources. This paper focuses on the economic expansions in this region from modernist perspectives drawing the example of tourism development in the CHT, which can marginalize and exploit Indigenous people in the making of ‘development’, Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 87-103

Voice and Participation of ‘Student Cabinet’ in School Activities through the Development of ‘Teamwork’: A Case Study of a Government Secondary School in Bangladesh

Students’ voice and participation in teaching -learning practices in the classrooms and in schools are central in promoting Democratic Citizenship Education (DCE). Aiming to increase the practices of democratic values through education, in 2015 the government of Bangladesh enacted ‘student cabinet’ in secondary schools in Bangladesh. Through the development of a qualitative case study with an action research component, this study explores how the engagement of ‘student cabinet’ in school activities could be established through the development of ‘teamwork’. Data were collected from the head teacher, two classroom teachers, two group of students and the members of ‘student cabinet’ using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and field notes. Findings suggest that while the ‘student cabinet’ was not effectively functioning in the school, involvement of its members, the teachers and the head teacher in planning and implementing the activities of the ‘student cabinet’ through collaborative action research influenced positive changes. ‘Strategy of working as a team rather than individuals’ showed potentials for improving the engagement of ‘student cabinet’ in the school activities and developing sense of connectedness with the school community. Findings have implications in promoting DCE through student representative bodies in schools in Bangladesh and other contexts. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 183-199

Kinship in Contemporary Japanese Society : An Overview

The paper seeks to analyse the salient features of the kinship structure in Japan and how it plays it is significant role to form the traditional Japanese values. The paper also tries to analyse the changing nature of the kinship system in contemporary Japanese society from its traditional family (IE) system. The paper follows the qualitative method of research where the data has been collected from both academic and non-academic sources. By analysing the kinship structure of different periods in Japan, the paper finds that during the IE family system of the Tokugawa period, Japan gives less weight to kinship relations than other Asian countries. The feeling on son, either related to blood or adopted, marks the major distinction with other societies to find out the kin and non-kin. Following the IE system, the paper finds another two major events behind the weaken kinship structure in Japan: the emergence of koseki since the Meiji restoration and the rise of corporate culture during the contemporary period. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 105-124

Tobacco Control Measures in Bangladesh: KAP Survey on Informal Tobacco Economy

This research aims to explore the ‘Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP)’ of government’s current tobacco control measures among informal tobacco sellers in Bangladesh. The KAP survey method was applied for collecting information from 400 sellers over seven regional divisions in Bangladesh. The subsequent data analysis was performed using SPSS software to derive the findings from the survey. The study explores that more than half of tobacco sellers are tobacco consumers themselves, of which more than four-fifth consumed tobacco at their Point of Sale (POS). Majority of informal tobacco shops were found in the public places although these sellers reported their acquaintance with the government’s tobacco control Act prohibiting the tobacco usage in such locations. Indirect advertisement was prevalent in about half of those shops. Majority of the sellers used to sell tobacco to minors. About one-fifth of sellers received some form of incentive from tobacco companies while two-third of them received gift items. Since informal tobacco sellers, mostly mobile, reach out the largest pool of consumers making tobacco available near-at-hand, government’s current tobacco control regulations should encompass the informal economy of tobacco sales to prevent massive violation of tobacco control Act by these sellers. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 201-215

User Satisfaction through Time, Cost and Visit (TCV) Model: Case of Mayor Mohammad Hanif Flyover

Governments around the world are encouraging private individuals, groups or organizations to join hand in hand in delivering better services to the citizens. Similarly, Government of Bangladesh has also initiated Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in its policies and strategies over the years. Mayor Muhammad Hanif Flyover (MMHF) is one of the key examples of large-scale project implemented under PPP in the country. The main objective of this paper is to assess the level of satisfaction of the service users of MMHF and associated factors that either facilitate or hamper user satisfaction. This study follows a mixed research method with both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques; small scale survey and interview applied to cover primary sources and content analysis has been applied to get information from secondary sources. This study customizes TCV (time, cost and visit) model used by a2i to assess the efficacy of the use of MMHF. This study finds that most of the service users are satisfied with the time needed to pass through the flyover against the costs incurred and thereby they happily avail the flyover. Despite some challenges this PPP project has paved the opportunity to introduce more partnerships between government and the private sector. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 43-57

Women’s Participation in Decision Making Structures and Processes: A Case Study on the Local Government Institution in Bangladesh

Since 1976, women’s participation has been empowered as part of the development discourse for achieving sustainable development in Bangladesh. Women’s empowerment in the local government structures and processes has a substantial influence on the National Gender Policy of Bangladesh. This study has critically assessed the extent of the women’s participation in the decisionmaking processes of the Local Government Institutions (LGIs) through participants’ observation, qualitative and quantitative methods. The study evolves the success and failure attempts of the women’s participation in the LGI’s structures and decision-making processes as per Local Government (Union Parishad) Act-2009. The study also finds the UPs are too politicized to make them socially inclusive, pro-poor friendly and distribute equally the benefits of aids and social safety net services. The centralized power of UP chairs, manipulation and tokenism practices in the UP’s governance and decision-making processes had diminished the gender sensitivity, transparency, and accountability of the institution. The study also suggests increasing the number of women representatives in UP’s structures, making functional the roles of woman’s vice-chair, activating the Ward level meetings, standing committees and project implementation committees, as well as regularizing the effective monitoring with transparent and accountable manner for making the UP gender responsive and people oriented. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 267-286

The Outlook of Supply Chain Management Amid Covid 19 Pandemic : An Explorative Analysis of Recent Research

The outbreak of Corona virus pandemic started in China near the end of 2019. Since then, the virus has spread over all corners of the world and has been taking huge toll of people’s life. The nature of contamination and spread of the virus has disrupted all sorts of business and social activities let alone the supply chains. Supply chain professionals and their stakeholders are working hand in hand to tackle the challenges and exploring ways to covert the challenges into opportunities to tap on. Scholars with interest in supply chain management are not only scrutinizing the situation but also taking up research to analyse the situation and provide data driven, knowledge-based recommendations. This research takes an explorative approach to identify the major themes, approaches, findings, recommendations generated by the body of literature focusing on supply chain management issues during and after the COVID 19 pandemic. Recent research articles on the topic are identified and downloaded using key word search from Google Scholar, Taylor & Francis, Harvard Business Publishing, Elsevier, Wiley, Emerald and Springer sites. 20 articles were selected for in-depth analysis based on the following criteria-written in English, relevance to the topic, publication in peer reviewed journals listed in Scopus data base, and accessibility of full paper. The systematic analysis of literature done in this study helps in identification and categorization of the key research in the field in terms of their context, focus, current and potential impacts, prescribed responses, and future outlooks. The study also detects the research gaps and offers direction to advance future research on the topic. Practitioners can use the findings of the study as a reference to devise their supply chain strategies and plan of actions amid COVID 19. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 161-181